Ethics Commission Concerns

city rep emma acosta tells abc-7 she got a call from the chairman of the ethics commission… asking her to hold off on appointing a local attorney to that board. but why? abc-7’s darren hunt … … is live with what he learned darren. the commission chair, stuart schwartz says it has nothing to do with who acosta appointed… and everything to do with handling a complaint against city manager tommy gonzalez: “when mr. schwartz obviousl called me, it was an odd call.” city rep emma acosta expressed her concerns about a call she got from schwartz back in february … asking her to hold off on appointing local attorney danny anchondo. “well wait a minute, since when does a board member tell a city rep who to appoint and when to appoint?” in the call, whic i’ve heard a recording of, schwartz tells acosta, quote: “we’re serving as a panel for the tolbert complaint , working our way through it.” “we’v had a number of executive sessions on it and i don’t see much benefit trying to bring somebody new into the fold at this late time.” when contacted, schwartz pointed to the ethics ordinance, which states a member “shall recuse himself … whe the member is not present during one hearing of an investigation or disposition of a complaint.” “there has been no hearing ye on the ethics commission concerning the jim tolbert complaint, so therefore these new members can still participate because there has been no hearings.” schwartz declined an on-camera interview, but told abc-7: “i shouldn’t be about me or ms. acosta being upset. it should be about the process.” acosta decided to write this letter to members of the ethics commission expressing her concerns about schwartz’s call. “i think it was ver unprofessional for him to have done that, i don’t know why he did it … i don’t understand why he doesn’t want certain people appointed or new people appointed to the commission, i don’t think that’s his purview.” anchondo has been serving on the commission since acosta appointed him in february … he told me he’s been practicing law for 40 years and caught up quickly on the process … rick. abc-seven is following severe weather in parts of the u-s… a